Myanmar. The name does not click for many well-traveled friends I know. It is not exactly the kind of country you will find on people’s bucket lists. But having been there just two weeks ago, I have fallen in love with this “Golden Land” of ancient pagodas and friendly smiles. Here’s why I find Myanmar…
My feet fall softly on yielding sand as I breathe in salt and fresh leaves. All around me are hundreds of dwarf mangroves with roots falling midway from their trunks to the white sand like dark fountains. And, as with the various fountains in parks, some of the mangrove root complexes are small and wide,…
(UPDATED OCTOBER 2019) Delicious, dreamy massages. Fresh, crisp mountain air. Decades-old balete trees. Pools flowing into the mountains and the sky. When I stepped into Loreland Farm Resort, I certainly did not expect a relaxing spa retreat. This resort in Antipolo has been famous for family and group outings for years. But from Loreland’s usual…
They were more than life-sized statues; they were larger than life. Former US General Douglas MacArthur, his landing party, and then President Sergio Osmeña and General Carlos Romulo, towered close to the combined height of two people at Red Beach, Palo, Leyte. Shining proud and golden under the sunlight, they are forever frozen in the…
(Updated August 2016) Kalanggaman does not only have one, but two, pristine white sandbars! Just around an hour of boat ride from the mainland of Leyte, this island is worth going to.
Amid the city’s mall and commercial establishments, I had walked into a Zen garden. At the center of the hall, white, blue-gray and flaming orange pebbles swirled in mandala-like patterns. From each mandala rose bright green shrubs and bushes or twisting driftwood, accentuated by rocks of varying shapes. And, while the skies were gloomy and…
While the skies were a gloomy gray monochrome last Saturday, the stadium and grounds of Leyte Sports Development Center at Tacloban City, Leyte, were in a festive mood. Though the morning street dance was regrettably canceled because of the continuous downpour, the afternoon performances of the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival contingents adorned the stage with vibrant, dancing…
Something you have to try at least once in your life. Photo from Atimonan Rock Climbing After taking home an amazing, almost transcendental experience from rock climbing and enduring life lessons to go with it, I have become a convert. No, I do not plan to regularly come face to face with those towering and…
For the record, I don’t play Candy Crush. I know enough of its addictive quality from friends and acquaintances for me to even start. I have seen from their screens just how colorful the game can get, though, with candies forming vivid rainbow piles…and then getting crushed. Candy Crush’s colorful candies are reminiscent of my…
Piolo, a child with coffee-colored skin and the curliest hair I have ever seen, handed me a wild rambutan, smiled shyly up at me, and joined the other children. They and a few adults ate the tart red fruit while sitting outside a makeshift home from wood. Others also sat outside their homes, seemingly content,…
Traveling Light 